Toys!

[Solo Tremaine]

Well, as some of you might know, I'm an avid toy collector. I have been for as long as I can remember, althought I can't quite remember what first got me started.

Anyway, seeing as they're a big part of growing up, or are at least heavily associated with it, I think their importance is underestimated. It's known that playing games with toys improves your imagination and your social skills to some extent (as has been observed in various studies), but they can be more than just a development tool. Or less, in some cases :p.

I tend to spend rather a lot of money on these, and not just because I want the whole set or for the sake of it, but because they make me happy. Maybe it's just because I've not grown up yet or something, but I really enjoy playing with them. And yes, I make all the explosion sound-effects, too. My room's covered in Transformers, Star Wars and Digimon figures ^_^;

But anyway, I can't help but notice there's a huge gap between what's considered boys' toys and girls' toys- it's a hard thing to describe, but the general idea I get is that while boys are being encouraged to be brave and fight evil with real karate action and whatever, girls are being trained to eitherbe mothers, or look fashionable and have parties and pick up boys, something which can be a little dangerous to encourage at such an early age (read: underage sex increasing. I know that's not wholly due to toys, but enforcing image-obsessive ideas like that isn't going to help).

So anyway, I have a few questions:

[b]1. What were your favourite toys (if you had any)?[/b]

When I was younger I used to love the Visionaries figures. They were so-well articulated it was amazing. Nowadays we'd take it for granted, but back then usually all a figure could move would be the arms, legs and head if you were really lucky. But it wasn't just that. They had fantastic animal holograms, which on the TV series they'd change into anytime they wanted to. You didn't get the animal with the figure, which was a little disappointing, but it looked very nice anyway.

[b]2. What did you think of the toys then?[/b]

I loved them. Totally and absolutely. There were always more that I wanted, other figures that looked nice, along with their vehicles, but I was never able to get hold of them. I used to really like the series that went along with them, too. My favourite guy, Ectar, had a nice claw-weapon, too.

[b]3. What do you think of the toys now?[/b]

They're pretty clunky now. I hardly ever play with them any more, because the plastic feels a little too heavy and they're only held together in the middle by a rubber band. Bearing in mind this was about 1989 these were made, the rubber band in mine's doing well to still be going. Newer figures are better-made, and more detailed. And some do even transform into animals, hehe.

[b]4. What do you think of the stereotypes that some toys seem to encourage?[/b]

I think it's probably something that's roots lie way back when toys were first made. Because girls and women in general tended to have a bigger role around the house than they do now, I'm guessing toys which helped them identify with the role they were expected to fulfil would have sold more effectively. it's probably also partly instinctive- since women will have a more caring and innate motherly instinct anyway, encouraging that role seems to make sense. Likewise with the boys, who tend to be more active and agressive- give 'em soldiers.

But I don't think it's necessarily right to impose these things onto girls. My sisters never liked Barbies- they were into dragons, warriors, and my little sister's Transformers collection is rivalling mine now. Maybe it's because I've grown up in an odd household, but enforcing the ideas of having dates and becoming mothers at such a young age to me seems to limit the imagination of the child. They're bieng forced into a normal social role while the boys are given any number of fantasy/sci-fi ideas and worlds to play in. I think an imagination is a terrible thing to let waste, but trying to make toys which appeal to girls more without being pink and fluffy would be a little laughable now. Maybe a more gender-neutral toy would be more appropriate, so then they can live that little bit more before having to grow up.

Anyway, now I've ranted, what do you think?

[noraa_boy]

Gee, I was under the impression that the "be like a mum" theme came naturally to little girls who wanted to imitate their mothers. I don't really see any imposing going on there.

Anyway, my favourite toys as a kid were transformers or pretty much anything(surprise surprise) that had to do with war and violence.

[Guest Taylor Hewitt]

What kind of... "toys"?

1. Well I liked stuffed animals when I was a kid. I don't have to many... "toys" these days.

2. I thought they were fuzzy and lovable.

3. I think they are fuzzy and lovable.

4. *remembers tickle-me-elmo* They think that all red monsters that live on a street called "seasame" are easily tickled.

[Transtic Nerve]

I'm a pack rat, and I used to have tons of toys. I eventually sold alot. But I still have alot.

i have about 6 full boxes of toys inthe other room. Notincluded in those boxes are the toys hanging up on 3 outof my 4 walls in my room.

I collected Star Warsfigures, X-Men/X-Factor figures, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, etc etc for the marvel characters. Legos, Hotwheels cars, Matchbox cars and Transformers. I jumped on the Transformers thing and sold them about 2 years ago. Got mucho money too. I still have quite a few of them. But everything else I still have alot of, especially the Hotwheels cars and Star Wars figures, which I plan to keep for a while.

I generally dont have a problemw ith my toys sense they are all packaged, minus the Legos. I have them on display, soon however theywill all be boxed in the attic except the Star Wars figures. People generally are odded out by them when they come in my room, but hey...

I dunno of any stereotypes besides "being a kid" which is exactly what i was when I got all these toys. So I don't care what they say. I don't collect toys anymore.

[Guest Taylor Hewitt]

I used to be a lego fanatic. I build my own custom sets and build ones on the box. Lego ruled and still does. p00 on me for giving it all away to my 10-year-old-sister :'(. I don't have too many action figures and never did. I like board games they are sort of fun I will pwn you at Monopoly! w00t!

[Akki Koroshiya]

1:models,i like to see somewhat how things work inside and models you can usually customize,another thing i like to do

2:loved em,all my legos zoids,gundams and planes.like i said above i like to see how things work and these helped a bit

3:um i like legos when i have enough friggin pieces.um i still like the otehr models cuz i just kinda statred them

4:um dolls and barbies and such like that means you think and are*usually* a girl,models means you have time on your hands usuually smart like to build things,and action figures are basically for everyone else

[Sniglefager]

1. I had a lot of toys. And I mean A LOT! I was what you would called a "spoiled rotten brat." Heck, I still am to some extent. But my absolute favorites were my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ones, and my Spider-Man toys. I remember loading a whole bunch of them into a toy van, and then launching them down the stairs. Ah, the memories.
2. Until I got my Sega Genesis, that's all I really did was play with toys. I loved them. I was almost obsessed. I remember taking them everywhere, and then losing hot wheels cars in the sand at the park.
3.The only time I play with toys is when my little brother wants me to play with him. Other than that, I just play video games and go on the computer.
4.Well, whenever I go to a store and go in the toys section, I always see the "dreaded pink aisle" as I call it. The only stereotype that I see is that they think all girls like pink. Then again, maybe they do, I wouldn't know lol
5.

[Epsilon]

1. Ronin Warriors action figures, legos, little shaped mini transformer thingys.

2.Some thing to play with. Really nice swords, nice to throw at people. I was totally in love with my action figures. Refused to let anyone touch them.

3.Still plays with one favorite action figure, but only when no is around. Plastic armor not a good idea. Collect them more then I did before. Still refuse to let anyone touch them.

4. I only have a problem with people and the stupid doll action figure thing. Girls can play with action figures if they want.

[Guest Fiasco]

1. I like lots of toys, like the Swamp Monster [any of you guys remember him?] and how his arm could come out, it was awesome. That and some other rat-typed dude, I don't remember his exact name.

2. I loved all my toys, even as a baby my parents told me that when I was a kid, I'd stay up for all hours and play with my toys, not staring or not doing anything else. Haha, weird huh?

3. I still love toys and they are awesome. :)

4. That they are childish, which I don't think is true. But still, I love them. :)

[Sara]

[size=1][b]1. What were your favourite toys (if you had any)?[/b]

Mm, let's see. I had a [i]ton[/i] of "[b]Littlest Pet Shop[/b]" stuff. I named every animal, and they all had little biographies, and everything. I also had some [i][url=http://www.timelesstrinkets.com/Dolls/Images/MoonDreamers/CrystalStarDollComplete.jpg][b]Moondreamers[/b][/url][/i] dolls--a bucket of them that we got at a rummage sale. That was right around the time we'd first started renting Moondreamers from the local video place, so my sister and I had a blast with those. What else...I loved [b]Legos[/b]. My brother had a bunch of sets, but I just built all sorts of stuff with the regular blocks--we had several buckets full, heh. And before that, when I was really young, I adored [url=http://www.geocities.com/ndrolet331/little_tikes/Wafflebloc0510.html]Waffle Blocks[/url]. Heh. Those were [i]awesome[/i]. Ooh, and [url=http://stingrays.tripod.com/toymuseum/toyfplp.htm]little people![/url] Haha, I loved those. We had so many--two barns, and a main street, and this really cool castle with a trap door that sent people to the dungeons...(They all had names too, by the way.) Wow, heh. Good times.

Come to think of it, I had some Polly Pocket stuff, too. Ooh, and My Little Ponies. (Just a couple, but they were awesome, heh. I used to adore that show.)

And what else...I had a Michelangelo Ninja Turtle, which I thought was awesome...and lots of board games, wow.

[b]Edit:[/b] Treasure trolls! I loved those--I had over a dozen, heh. ^_^ They all had names, too--cleverly coordinated with the color of their jewel and hair. (Example: My favorite was Ruby Red. Which sounds like it should be a kind of cranberry juice....]

I also don't know if this counts as a toy, but I had a beading loom that I spent many hours working on as a grade-schooler. Heh. ^_^

[b]2. What did you think of the toys then?[/b]

Heh, they were awesome. I was a very dramatic child--some characters would be kidnapped, or be fleeing some serial killer, or some other frightening thing, and there would be bad guys, and good guys (You know, when I played with little people, all the adults were always evil...) and ooh--it was so fun! Drama, danger, intrigue--a short intermission for my morning snack, heh--and back to the show! The same type of story was played and replayed with all my different toys. (I even still have a bunch of marbles with names and personalities that went through all that, heh.)

I had a [i]lot[/i] of fun.

[b]3. What do you think of the toys now?[/b]

Most of them are long gone, heh. Mom ran a Pre-School for a while, and a lot of my old toys just stayed there after she left. I still get out my marbles sometimes, and see if I can remember all their names. (Surprisingly, yes. Well, maybe not so surprisingly. Example: my favorite marble was named "Marbella." Ooooooh.)

[b]4. What do you think of the stereotypes that some toys seem to encourage?[/b]

I don't know, really. I remember once when I was four or five--hadn't started kindergarten yet--thinking that I wasn't "allowed" to wear blue, because it was a BOY color. My grandmother cleared that one up pretty quick, heh.

I've never had a problem--myself, I guess--stereotype-wise. Some "girl" toys I liked, some I didn't. I had a lot of toys, because Mom loves rummage sales, and it's easy to convince your mom to buy [i]anything[/i] if it's less than a dollar fifty, heh. (The exception was guns. She never allowed any us to have toy guns.) But, yeah. I don't think any of my toys were ever given to me specifically because I was a girl. (My relatives who didn't know me always got me art supplies. Heh, Mom must have informed them that I prefered markers to Barbies, heh.)

But, yeah. I picked out most of my toys from rummage sales, and it was stuff I liked, not stuff other people thought I should, just because I was a girl. [/size]

[Ninjaman]

1. I had a [i]lot[/i] of toys when I was a kid. So much that my parents had to buy a lot of toy containers so my room wouldn't have been so cluttered with toys. But I guess my favorite were Legos. I loved building and playing with the people. I had different types of Legos, too, including the big bulky ones.

2. I loved them. I loved to build back then and I remember always building houses with the Legos. I also loved to use the Lego people for having pretend adventures. I always asked for more Legos so I cold expand that adventure or to build more houses. Back then, I pretended that my entire house was a world to my Lego people. Like the floor was either the sea or land and bookshelves were mountains. Ah, the good ol' days. ^^

3. I still love my Legos, but I just don't have adventures with them anymore. Instead I just have them on display on my shelves. Too bad my Lego town got destroyed though.

4. I don't really recall any stereotypes in the toys back then. And the only stereotype I see now is what Ruby stated.

[DeathBug]

1. What were your favourite toys (if you had any)?

Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, the short-lived Inspector Gadget, Power Rangers, Spider-Man and Transformers: Beast Wars/Machines. Also, I have a three-inch Beelzemon figure on my desk. (It raises its claws if you press the button on his back.)


2. What did you think of the toys then?

Toys were cool! My all-time fave line had to be the Spider-Man line, b/c every character I loved from the comics was a very possible candidate for toy-dom.


3. What do you think of the toys now?

I think that if I had more money I would buy a lot of them. I like certain characters from the Spawn line, as well as the Digimon figures. I also am interested in Bionicle, and several of the anime lines. I want the Black Metal Dragon model kit, the Ainme Invasion line (Big O, Outlaw Star *and* Cowboy Bebop? W00t!), and Alien figures. Sadly, most of the new Transformers toys don't interest me. But the Spider-Man movie toys do...

At the end of this year, I'm getting "Ultimate Venom", from the Marvel Selects line. It's exclusive to comic & specialty shops, and is one sweet piece. :demon:


4. What do you think of the stereotypes that some toys seem to encourage?

I have absolutly no opinion on it whatsoever.

[Mina]

[COLOR=coral][SIZE=1]Ohh, I love toys, although most of the ones I get end up broken.

For the Questions:
1. My fave toys were dolls. I loved them because they were glitzy for one thing and the promoting underage sex and such never really comes to your mind when you hand a doll to a child. I liked to play dress up with my dolls because it seems interesting. You've seen your mother do it and it was interesting.

2. It was kind of a treat to have a new toy. I felt really happy when I got them. Still, I don't think I was responsible with them. I didn't really make up stories though. My imagination came mainly out of books.

3. I think toys today are good enough, but some are not up to standard. Some action figures are very brittle and the plastic is so messed up in some that you can't put them together.

4. I don't think the toys promote anything bad. I was very young when I liked Barbies and I still have a few left, but now I see the pointlessness of the dress-up game. I now like the action figures and dragons though I collect them in forms of art and stickers.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[OtakuSennen]

Well, this may be a little different, considering I'm 12...

[b]Question 1--[/b] Well, when I was [i]really[/i] young (as in 5 or so) I had tons of action figures, mostly from shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers. -_- *shame shame shame* Most of them were just ones with moving arms or kung-fu grip or whatever and would say some poorly recorded action phrase like "Turtle Power!" or "Go go Gigantazord!".. Now, since I am still young, I don't have as many "toys" such as action figures, but I have more video games. ..Mostly RPGs. But more recently, I read more manga and buy more anime than play video games..

[b]Question 2--[/b] Well, I thought about my toys when I was five as "Wow! A new Blue Ranger action figure!!" for about 2 days.. Then I'd get tired of it and move onto something else and want a new toy. -_- I had a very short attention span back in the good ol' days. But I think of my video games as really enjoyable ways to waste time (in a good way) and hear interesting stories.. I really enjoy playing the games if I haven't beaten it yet or it has good replay value..

[b]Question 3--[/b] Uh.. I think of my old toys as junk.. Most of the batteries are out, so the voices don't work anymore.. And I'm not the kind of person that will go through a box in the garage and say "Oh, some of my old toys!" and reminisce.. I think, "Oh, some of my old toys which may get me a buck or two in a garage sale!".. I think of my video games that I have today the same as how I said I thought of them in question two-- Enjoyable interactive stories.

[b]Question 4--[/b] Hm.. This is an interesting topic.. I find it very unfair that specific toys are marketed towards boys and others are marketed specifically towards girls.. Now most of the time, boys won't want an Easy Bake Oven (unless you put a "Qu" in front of the Easy), yet some girls DO prefer the actiony stuff, not all the pink dolls.. Look at those Bratz things, for example. The commercials show the approximate 16-year-olds prettying themselves up to pick up guys.. And the sooner people get into a serious relationship, the sooner they.. Uh.. Ya know. And they even have a doll in Japan like a "pregnant" Barbie where you poke its belly and a baby comes out.. Of the stomach (Thank god X_X). This is the 21st century, not the fifties. People should break out of the typical steriotypes and buy what they want, and marketing should not try to make the products so.. Racy, if you will.

[Sniglefager]

hey, I played with my neighbors easy bake oven. That was some good food, too! lol

[Brasil]

Okay, Fiasco, thanks for bringing up the Swampthing toys. You just made me feel OLD AS HELL. lol. But anyway,

The thing that really annoys me is that I had so many toys that would be collector's items today. I had an Imperial Shuttle, Stormtroopers galore, Darth Vader, Chewbacca...almost the entire main character and vehicle collection. I had entire toychests filled with Transformers, GI Joe, Ninja Turtles, ThunderCats, Heman...the list probably goes on for a while.

Regardless of how much money I lost today by not keeping those toys in their boxes and such, it's still a very interesting and promising convention of childhood.

Back then, we didn't care if that Optimus Prime would be worth 90 dollars in 15 years; we saw it in the package, we wanted to play with it, so we ripped the cardboard off of the plastic container, removed any twisty ties that may have secured it, and immediately pitted Optimus Prime against Shredder, to see just who would make it out alive.

Of course, neither of them would ever die, because our imaginations wouldn't allow it. Shredder had to survive to face Liono, and Optimus Prime still had to fight Han Solo. Man, I remember that. Ah, good memory.

When I think about it, children are innocent--at least when we were growing up. In the 80s, we simply weren't exposed to much, at least not to as much as the youth of the 90s.

A thread popped up the other day that asked are people born good or evil. Some people feel that we are destined to be aligned with one side or the other. To quote Dr. Mull, one of my most excellent college professors, "That's ******* ********."

We're shaped by society. That's the bottom line. As children, what were we shaped by in the 80s? Toys, most excellent cartoons, fun and harmless movies, and Teddy Ruxpin. 90s kids had it rough. What did they have? Pokemon, Power Rangers, Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. They were doomed right out of the womb.

We 80s children had it great. We grew up in THE best decade for toys and cartoons, and had a damn good decade for movies, too.

The only negative I can see regarding the toys I grew up with, is that gender distinction. BUT, that gender distinction has been with us since time began. It only takes different forms every few eras.

I'm not worried about gender distinctions until it turns into violence or spurns destructive behavior.

Anyway, I'm done for now.

Later.

[IwakuraLain]

1. i dunno if anybody knows this company but my sister and i had these "American Girl" dolls, my doll was from the revolutionary era and my sister's was from the victorian and they each had these huge wardrobes of historically correct, intricate and exact replicas of real clothing. we spent over $1000 on them!
2. i was absolutely obsessed... to the point where i kept my dolls wrapped in lace on a miniature wicker chair... and curled their hair with real curlers... (i feel like such a wierdo now, lol :sweat: )
3. i still like them, but mostly just because of their sentimental value
4. um... i think that toys do encourage stereotypes. i remember when they used 2 have this barbie or something that whenever she squatted, a fetus would pop out!!!!

[Guest V-Ball Chick]

Solo Tremaine

I no how u feel if i
didn't have ne toys i
would not have ne fun
expt my friends at home
but somr times we get into
fights & it not fun!!!

[COLOR=orangered][size=1]Say what? Please try to post coherently.

-Sara[/size][/COLOR]

[Karta]

1. My favorite toys were either my Barbies or those little toy dogs and cats. I loved to make up stories to play out. (For some reason I never really got into dressing up the dolls. ^_^) My cousins legos were a lot of fun too!

2. They were so exciting and fun! I think I liked books more, but toys were still up on my list of wonderful things.

3. Hmm, I don?t really have any more TOY toys, but I still kind of like legos. My older sister and I WERE playing around with some sample Hulk Hands in the toy aisle of Target but well. . . That kind of thing wasn?t around when I was little. Ooohhh, I?m good at video games now too, so I still like those!

4. Well I never really got certain toys imposed on me. Both of my cousins are boys and my sister was, and still is, such a tomboy it was almost frightening. I guess with influences like that I got to play with Barbies and enjoy Power Rangers. I watched Dragon Ball Z because of my boyish relatives too!

As far as my opinion on stereotypes well. . . I think it?s really foolish to tell someone what they SHOULD act like. Hopefully most parents are smart enough to let their kids decide.

[Baron Samedi]

This is slightly off topic- but the tickle me elmo thing...there was another one...Shoot-Me-Up elmo...."Elmo shakes and convulses when you shoot him up with heroine" *holds head* i actually coudltn breathe when i read this.,...for like 5 mins when i was trying to tell my mum..i kepthaving to stop...it was just so funny. Elmo shakes and coHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA was how i kept going. so that would be my favourite toy. seriously thoguh, - probably lego. i had SOOOOOOO much lego. it was crazy. sorry about the poor quality of this post- im on the run... ciaou

[rokas]

[font=comic sans ms][b]
Question 1. [i]I didn't have any toys based on any TV series, we didn't have them in Lithuania. Well at least not the kind we have today, I had a transformer, but all it was, was a car that drove around and the front would turn into a robot. Back stayed the same so the robot had no legs it would just drive around and round and form back into a car and then round again...
uhm... I also had few guns(if they are considered toys) and made quite few bows over time, I would meat up with other kids, we would all seperate into teams, and play war, sweet the memories. Then there were constructer sets, I had one metal set with screws and all, you had to bend the metal parts to be able to create the better figures, my hands were week those times so I never made anything cool. I had more luck with big plastic ones.
One other thing I remember, were remote control cars, one christmas when I asked for lego set, my sister asked for a remote control car. Not really a genderised toy after all. We broke quite few of those.[/i]

Question 2. [i] I loved them, but you usualy needed a friend to play with them, it's just no fun with out one. Each takes a charecter and plays, simple as that.[/i]

Question 3. [i]Blah... I have few, play with them sometimes, my mum thinks the moon must be effecting me when I do. There just seems nothing there to do with them, without a friend and all...[/i]

Question 4. [i]I remember how our almost pensionere teacher explained why boys played with cars, and girls with dols. There wasn't that much gendarisation when I was litle. I had a friend who was a girl (not a girlfriend, I was too young at the time, though I was supposed to marry her O.o) and played dolls with her. There was more distinctin as I grew up a litle, girls don't play with guns... [/i][/b][/font]

[Delian]

Well when I was growing up, my brother, sister and I loved playing with Lego, marbles and a pack of cards. We used to build the planes out of lego pieces and play fighter jets. It was cool and we used to create buildings and cars with no wheels and boats and stuff. Legos Rocked:D We also loved playing with marbles...trying to win the biggest and nicest ones. Cards is heaps fun if you know how to play the games especially poker, although I haven't played it for ages.

Besides boardgames and cars with racing tracks or remote controls, toys now are kinda boring. I mean i've never owned a barbie and all these dolls based on characters from movies and stuff is just plain boring.

[SaiyanPrincessX]

[B]What were your favourite toys (if you had any)?[/B]
When I was younger my brother and I [I]loved[/I] Toy cars(Hot wheels, Matchbox), Legos, and stuffed animals. Yes I also had dolls too. We were never really into action figures untill we started watching DragonBall Z; I was about 11.

[B]What did you think of the toys then?[/B]
I loved them. I had so much fun with them. If my brother or friends didn't want to play I occupied myself with them. Heh, my brother and I named every lego person and all of our cars. Our stuffed animals aswell. Everything had a name and purpose. It was great fun! I wouldn't trade my childhood for anything. It all went by so fast.

[B]What do you think of the toys now?[/B]
There not the same as they used to be... For example, the legos. We played legos for the longest time, untill they came out with the Star Wars series. Now almost all of them are from some movie or something. I liked the Pirate,& Johnny Thunder sets, stuff like that.

[B]What do you think of the stereotypes that some toys seem to encourage?[/B]
As mentioned, the boy/girl stereotypes. I hated when McDonalds had the happy meals for girls & boys. I mean either the barbie toys or the cars. I usually told my mom to ask for two boy happy meals. I also hate the fact that toys are usually labled as childish. :rolleyes: You can play with toys if you want; no matter how old you are. I played with legos untill I was 13 or so. :D

[Captain Iuno]

1 My dad and I had this huge dinosaur and monster collection. It was really big. We had dinosaurs who were 3 centimetres high and we had one (which was inflatable) which was 1.50 metres high! The monsters were normal sized, but we had really ugly ones. Like Frankenstein, a purple vampire and we even had (and still have) the alien from ?Alien?. Which was one of my favourites. I played with Barbies too, but not that much as I played with the dinosaurs and monsters. I remember now that we also had the Thunderbirds island, with all the figurines and almost all the rockets, planes and cars. The only we missed (and still miss) is Thunderbird Space station (number 5).

2 I thought they were awesome and that no one had these toys. Hehe. No one had the Thunderbirds Island, I was pretty sure of that because it was really expensive back then.

3 We don?t have that much left of our collection, we still have the cool ones though. Like * thinks * the alien from ?Alien? and a new Frankenstein monster ^_^. The dinosaurs are pretty ugly now. The colours have faded a bit. The Thunderbirds Island had a make-over! Hehe. My dad and I still collect the ?ugly? monsters. It?s only too bad that they?re so expensive.

4 Through the years the stereotypes haven?t changed a lot. Barbie is still set as a role-model for young girls. Which can sometimes lead to less pleasant things, because a friend of mine (15) is obsessed with her body and has anorexia. She wants to have the same body as Barbie, because ?she is perfect?. But I think that the ?original purpose? of Barbie was indeed to make young girls ready for being a mother and to have a bigger part in the household. As for the toys for boys, those don?t make real stereotypes, but they more accentuate the real nature of the male side: to enjoy being aggressive (come on guys, you know it?s true!).

But it can be very different. Example: When I was a kid I loved those dinosaurs and monsters. I have a little sister (10 years old) and she loves dolls and stuff, she never really liked monsters or stuff like that. But I don?t have any brothers, so I can?t judge about those differences.

( Nice thread Solo ;) )

[Boba Fett]

[b]1. What were your favorite toys (if you had any)?[/b]

[color=green]My favorite toys were probably Legos, I used to have buckets full and build all sorts of crazy things out of them. I don?t remember playing with my friends using Legos; I'd usually go outside and play whatever instead. They really are great toys, since they allow you to build pretty much whatever you can think of out of them. I think I stopped playing with Legos around fifth-sixth grade, and gave almost all of mine to my little brother last year.[/color]

[b]2. What did you think of the toys then?[/b]

[color=green]Well, I thought that most of the stuff I had was pretty neat and there was always something in the Lego catalog that I thought was the epitome of cool. That is, until I had to clean up my room after dumping heaps of Legos all over the place?[/color]

[b]3. What do you think of the toys now?[/b]

[color=green]Legos are probably still one of the better kinds of toys out there, and they don?t seem silly or stupid in retrospect. I guess I just grew out of them, and found more interesting and complex things to play with (Like computer games).[/color]

[b]4. What do you think of the stereotypes that some toys seem to encourage?[/b]

[color=green]Well, looking at the action figures with guns bigger than the person holding them and Barbie dolls with breasts that rival their owners head's in terms of size?

Boys are being pushed to be bigger, stronger and more muscular, while girls are being pushed to be as attractive as possible. It's a little scary to think about and probably why my mom never let my sister get Barbie dolls or me to buy toy guns. It's hard to say if that made a whole lot of difference, but it can't have hurt.[/color]